Storm Gertrude winds causing concern

Published:10:34Friday 29 January 2016

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Following a quiet overnight period without significant impacts from rainfall, the Scottish Borders experienced a windy start to Friday.

Scottish Borders Council (SBC) and partners, including Police Scotland, monitored the weather overnight and early this morning and, as is normal during winter, allowed school transport operators to make local decisions based on conditions and associated risks, with a very limited number of routes affected.

This decision was itself based on the latest roads information at 6.30am and Met Office forecasts, which indicated some strong but relatively localised gusts of wind.

The Amber Weather Warning for wind has just lapsed, however, a Yellow Weather Warning for wind remains in place until 6pm today. Gusts of up to 70mph are forecast across the region.

The Yellow Weather Warning for rain, which was valid until noon, was removed by the Met Office at around 7.30am.

Residents should continue to expect disruption across the region’s road network and motorists should drive with care.

The Yellow Weather Warning for snow and wind for Saturday has now been extended and now runs from 6pm Friday to 6pm on Saturday.

The Emergency Planning Bunker at SBC has been open since noon yesterday (Thursday), with a multi-agency team in place overnight. It will remain open until further notice.

The council has put in place plans with partners and emergency services to ensure it can respond effectively to the impact of Storm Gertrude.

Jim Fraser, SBC’s emergency planning officer, said: “Fortunately we did not see any major impact from the rainfall overnight and early this morning, however, the wind did pick up towards the end of the Amber warning period.

“We are continuing to work closely with our partners, the Met Office and SEPA to plan for further impacts of Storm Gertrude over the coming days, especially in relation to the snow and wind expected later today and into Saturday evening.”